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Storage news - June 2010, week 2

companies mentioned in news below include:- Apacer, Axxana, Cisco, Kaminario, SandForce, Super Talent, Web-Feet Research, Western Digital
Kaminario launches RAM SSD

Editor:- June 14, 2010 - Kaminario launched its 1st product - an FC SAN connected acceleration appliance in which a grid of blade servers access upto terabytes of shared memory.

Pricing starts at $200,000

Editor's comments:- the applications speedups quoted by Kaminario are similar to the best figures achieved by high end rackmount SSDs from NextIO, Texas Memory Systems and Violin Memory.

Kaminario doesn't call its product an SSD - but it integrates techniques which have been used by SSD customers for many years - to place data hot spots into memory.

Unlike a vanilla RAM SSD - the company says the data deployment is done automatically and transparently by its proprietary OS. Kaminario's product isn't an SSD - but conceptually the best way to understand what it does is to think of it as a RAM SSD ASAP. The exact speedup and cost effectiveness achieved by this type of product is highly application sensitive. Another similar product (which bundles servers with massive memory) is the Oracle-focused OPERA from Texas Memory Systems.


Super Talent does that SandForce thing

Editor:- June 14, 2010 - Super Talent Technology announced availability of a new range of 2.5" SATA MLC SSDs which use SandForce controllers.

Capacities and street prices are as follows:- 60GB $199 , 120GB $349, 240GB $669, 480GB (contact vendor).

Joe James, Director of Marketing at Super Talent said "The TeraDrive CT is now our fastest desktop/laptop upgrade SSD. It has an amazing feature set combined with exceptional sequential and random transfer speeds and best-in-class reliability."


SSD Markets and Apps - new report from Web-Feet Research

Editor:- June 10, 2010 -Web-Feet Research has published its 8th annual report on SSD Markets and Applications ($7,500).

How well is SSD adoption in the Client, Enterprise, and Commercial Markets progressing?

What will be the challenges that will influence SSD acceptance and adoption rates in these segments?

Although there is plenty of coverage on SSDs in blogs and other media, WFR answers these important questions and differentiates its study by providing a detailed analysis of the client, commercial and enterprise end use markets for SSDs and incorporates the analysis of HDD storage for the same competing end use markets.

Detailed forecasts for both SSD and hard disk drive storage for these end use markets are provided. Also included are the technical and implementation challenges facing SSDs with respect to: capacity, reliability, density, operating temperature, and mechanical ruggedness as they relate to flash component performance, cost and integration.

Editor's comments:- I agree with the sentiment hinted at above by one of the report's authors Alan Niebel - that with thousands of blogs on the subject of SSDs - it's hard for newcomers to this market to judge the provenance or terroir of the content they see.

The "SSD analyst" market is no different in that respect to the SSD vendor market - in being vulnerable to obfuscating froth percolating up from the SSD market bubble. That's why in my SSD market research & analysts directory I've only listed a small number of elect companies who - I am sure - have been looking into this market for a long time.


Cisco launches desktop iSCSI for SMBs

Editor:- June 10, 2010 - Cisco Systems today launched a family of desktop (2 to 6 bay) iSCSI storage boxes for SMBs.

The 12TB model costs approx $4,000.


StorageSearch.com asks - Could TB HDDs be given away free?

Editor:- June 10, 2010 - a new article published today on StorageSearch.com asks - Could terabyte hard drives ever be given away free?

I think could that be a really good business strategy to prolong the life of the HDD market beyond 2016. Wonder why?... ...read the article

UK diary date - Energy Data Storage 2010 click to see more info about Energy Data Storage 2010
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Editor:- June 10, 2010 - StorageSearch.com is a media sponsor for - Energy Data Storage 2010 - which will take place in Kensington, London, UK in November.
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The new event - which is organized by the SMi Group - will form a platform for the energy sector to discuss and compare their unique digital data storage needs. It will also incorporate associated issues surrounding business continuity and information security and how these all form a part of consolidating your data storage strategy. Major themes include:-
  • disaster recovery and business continuity
  • information security
  • storage networks and architecture
  • data delivery / keeping up with user demand
Speakers include experts from leading companies in the oil, chemical and energy utility markets as well as vendors and consultants who supply storage technology and related expertise into those markets.

WD launches enhanced TV media player news image from  StorageSearch.com  click to see more info about  WD TV Live Plus HD media player
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Editor:- June 9, 2010 - Western Digital introduced the WD TV Live Plus HD media player (US$149.99) which connects directly to a users' HDTV and automatically converts and plays many file formats stored on a connected USB drive.

(But it doesn't support protected premium content such as movies or music from iTunes.)

The WiFi enabled box (via optional extra USB adapter) also includes a user remote interface to the Netflix online movie on demand service.

survey shows most users think they can't afford zero loss disaster recovery

Editor:- June 9, 2010 - Axxana today published findings from a survey it funded to understand the role that cost plays in inhibiting user adoption of zero data loss disaster recovery solutions such as its own SSD based solutions.

'This survey has really shown how today's end users still feel that eliminating data loss though a disaster recovery strategy is still out of their budget,' said Eli Efrat, Axxana's CEO. 'Although cost is still an important consideration, the results support our strategy and I am confident that a year from now solutions such as our Phoenix System will have a much bigger foothold in the market because they make zero data loss DR an affordable option.' SSD Backup


Apacer samples MO-300 mSATA SSDs

Editor:- June 9, 2010 - Apacer has started sampling its 1st SSDs which comply with JEDEC's spec MO-300 for mSATA SSD - which is about 75% smaller than a typical 2.5" SSD.

Apacer's miniature SATA Disk Module II M1 SLC SSD has R/W speeds upto 100MB/sec and capacities options from 4GB - 32GB - whereas the MLC version R/W speeds are upto 95MB/s and 50MB/s and MLC capacities are 2x greater. Both new SSD families include global wear leveling, S.M.A.R.T technology, 8-bit/15-bit ECC function and intelligent power failure recovery, and are processed compliant with MIL-STD-810F.


new article - the SSD Heresies

Editor:- June 8, 2010 - more than 10 key areas of fundamental disagreement within the SSD industry are listed and discussed in a new expanded article published here on StorageSearch.com - the SSD Heresies

Why can't SSD's true believers agree about a single coherent vision for the future of solid state storage? ...read the article

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the Fastest SSDs - key specs all form factors

the Top 10 SSD OEMs - future market winners?
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SSD Pricing - where does all the money go?
SSDs are among the most expensive computer hardware products you will ever buy.

Understanding the factors which determine SSD costs is often a confusing and irritating process...
Clarifying SSD Pricing - where does all the money go? - click to read the article ...not made any easier when market prices for identical capacity SSDs can vary more than 100x to 1! Why is that? ...read the article
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What's the best / cheapest - PC SSD?
Editor:- I often get emails from readers which ask the above question.

An article on StorageSearch.com - called What's the best / cheapest PC SSD? - is my attempt to create a simple FAQs page - which answers the question...
click to read this article ...of why I can't answer your question - and follows on to pose some probing questions which you can ask yourself. ...read the article
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the fastest SSDs

Speed isn't everything, and it comes at a price.........
But if you do need the speediest SSD then wading through the web sites of over 180 current SSD oems to shortlist products slows you down.

And the SSD search problem will get even worse as we head towards a market with over 1,000 SSD oems.
the fastest SSDs  sorted by interface and form factor - click to read article ... Relax - I've done the research. And this whizzy wish list is updated daily from storage news and direct contacts from oems. ...read the article,
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What's the best way to design a flash SSD?
and other questions which divide SSD opinion
More than 10 key areas of fundamental disagreement within the SSD industry are discussed in an article here on StorageSearch.com called the the SSD Heresies.
click to read the article - the SSD Heresies ... Why can't SSD's true believers agree upon a single coherent vision for the future of solid state storage? ...read the article
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Could TB HDDs be given away free?
Editor:- June 10, 2010 - in a recently published article I pose the question - Could terabyte hard drives ever be given away free?

They may be expensive now...

... but I think giving terabyte hard drives away free could one day be a really good business strategy to prolong the life of the HDD market and to deal with what will be unbeatable price / performance challenges posed by SSDs.
click to read this article about free terabyte HDDs Wonder why the HDD give-away will be such a great idea?... ...read the article
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"Many data recovery shops won't tell you they don't know how to recover data from your flash drive so they might fabricate an excuse... "
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